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I haven’t blogged a single entry since we opened! What does that tell you? We have been swamped. But I hate that I’ve missed out on recording what this first month has been like, and so I will do my … Continue reading
It’s been 24 days since our last post. So much has happened – it’s been a whirl wind. However, this post is dedicated to one of the most exciting aspects of our business – our new staff.
Wood N Frog is thrilled to introduce our inaugural team of enthusiastic, upbeat, friendly, and talented staff.
We are pleased to introduce:
In the head office, accountant, IT and HR – Anca Tudor
In the kitchen, our Head Chef – Vince Leelin
In the roastery – Jamie van Dam
Our barista/service team:
Annika Elkstrom
Alex Chancy
Amy Lazar
Nina Harada
Rachel Garrett
Chelsea Martens
Parker Woods
Finally – important members of our start up team are Les Kuan – coffee consultant extraordinaire, from the Canadian Barista Academy and Jim Townley, Roaster from Fresh Cup Roastery Cafe.
And of course, owners Kelly and Sandy will be roasting coffee, and filling in elsewhere as required.
Vince, Chelsea, Annika, Alex, Rachel, Amy, Anca, Nina
Parker, Annika, Amy, Rachel, Kelly, Nina, Anca
COFFEE SCHOOL AND TRAINING
The paper is still on the windows, but behind the paper, we have been training and perfecting the art of making specialty coffee. When the doors open, we want to serve our customers the best that fresh coffee can offer!
Coffee school
The history of coffee, the ecology of coffee, the science of coffee, the taste experience, and of course the technique of pulling the perfect espresso shot—all of this was presented and practiced at our mini in-house coffee school.
Parker, Rachel and Annika watch as Les demonstrates on the espresso machine
Les pulls two espresso shots
Beautiful crema!
Les demonstrates latte art
Coffee school at Wood N Frog
Tamping. Looks easy until you try it yourself. It’s like perfecting your tennis grip!
Top: Amy, Anca (and Les) Bottom: Alex (and Les), Rachel (with Jamie in the background and Les in the foreground).
Our coffee roasting machine was delivered on August 25th, but it took a few days of set-up before it was ready to use. Today was the big day. And a crazy day.
Kelly and I arrived at the store at 8:30 am. We were joined by Jamie Van Dam (our new part-time staff member), Jim Townley and his dad Mel, and Les Kuan, our coffee consultant.
Jim led us through basic start-up procedures and safety. Kelly had to run off for the first hour because he had a conference call for another contract. With the roaster running, the compressor kicking in, Walter and his team grinding and cutting holes in the counter tops, the place was pretty noisy!
Kelly returned from his call just as we were about to do our first bucket of beans. Sandy had the honour of pouring them into the machine. Then it was her turn to sit in the car and take a conference call with one of her clients.
Sandy pouring green beans into the Roastaire
The time from load to completion is under 15 minutes, so you don’t have long to wait once the beans go in.
We were learning about the chemical process of what goes on inside the bean during roasting, in order to create the best flavours. Green beans are dense and hard. They contain a higher moisture content than roasted beans, and in the green state, wouldn’t produce a beverage you would recognize as coffee.
To create the flavours we associate with coffee, we expose the bean to temperatures well over 200 °C. This causes the water in the cellular structure of the bean to “boil” and turn into water vapour, and the organic compounds (sugars and amino acids) in the bean to begin to change, releasing carbon dioxide (an endothermic reaction). These two gases—water vapour and CO2—need to escape the cells of the bean, and when they do, they make a popping or cracking noise. This happens twice in the roasting processes and is referred to as first and second crack. The heat roasts or bakes the sugars in the bean, caramelizing them and releasing the volatile oils that will later be extracted through the brewing process into your cup! How dark the roast gets is dependant on how long you push the roast time past the second crack, when the beans are in a state of pyrolysis, and the reaction has changed from endothermic, to exothermic – where the beans are creating their own heat.
We all took turns at an inaugural pour of green into the machine.
Jamie pours in the green!
Once the beans are drawn up into the roasting chamber, you can hear them tumbling about on their bed of air. Jamie and Sandy stood with their ears as close to the chamber as the heat would allow, trying to listen for the first and second crack.
We had a selection of beans on hand, and roasted beans from Brazil, Costa Rica and Peru. Each has slightly different roast profiles because the environments where they are grown cause the beans to have varying sugar content, moisture and densities.
Every time a roast came out of the hopper we would all gather around to examine it, and the first thing we learned to do was take a bean and chew on it, to explore the flavours! By the end of the day, we were all grinning at each other with brown chunks of coffee bean between our teeth!
Les testing beans at different times during the roast
The machine allows you to pull a few beans from the chamber during the roast, in order to test them. Les set up a bit of a science experiment, pulling beans every few minutes.
At the same time, Jim was giving instructions on how the actual computer components of the machine display information for the roaster on the screen. The sensors display bean activity, and allow the roast-master to determine when first and second crack are occurring and when to shut down the heat and remove the beans from the reaction chamber.
Kelly, Mel, Jamie and Les watch expectantly as the bean profile is displayed on the screen.
Once the beans are “done” they are expelled by a burst of air through a stainless steel tube and into the cooling hopper. From here, you can release them into a bin and get them ready for packaging or consumption. Typically, freshly roasted beans are given a rest period of about 48 hours before they are consumed. During this time gases are still being released from the bean and brewing can get a bit frothy and messy.
Jim releases a fresh batch from the hopper.
Testing coffee is called “cupping”. Cupping is one of the coffee tasting techniques used by cuppers to evaluate coffee aroma and the flavor profile of a coffee. We tried to do some cupping, but we weren’t really set up for it. We had to borrow a kettle from Diane at Muscle Memory, and use a crazy mixture of containers that Les and Jamie scrounged up from their vehicles to pour the cups into! But it kind of worked!
Cupping
Jim did a fabulous job of carefully explaining and listing the procedures for start-up, maintenance, roasting, and shut-down. Sandy took pages of notes, while Kelly perfected the art of recognizing first and second crack on the computer.
Jim and Kelly watching the computer “real-time” roasting profile.
Mel is the Mater Roaster in Saanichton, and stayed the whole day guiding us through the roast lessons.
Mel and Jamie discuss the roaster.
Jamie proudly shows off beans from his roast!
Kelly takes his turn at pouring in green beans.
Jamie buries his nose in a batch of freshly roasted beans.
Freshly roasted Wood N Frog Coffee! Join us soon for a cup!
Yesterday was a huge landmark in the making of Wood N Frog. It was almost a year ago, on October 2nd, 2011 that we found ourselves at the Canadian Coffee and Tea Show in Vancouver, sitting in a workshop and listening to a presentation by Jim Townley. That one presentation was the catalyst that triggered a reaction that catapulted us on our coffee journey. We first met the Roastaire in action on a trade show floor—and yesterday we cheered as our very own stainless steel beauty was pushed through the doors of our cafe!
Kelly and Sandy pushing the Roastaire into their cafe
Jim and Trevor moving in the machine
Jim and Trevor spent the whole day working with our Basil team installing the roaster and getting it ready for testing and production. This included prepping the ceiling and roof for venting out the yummy smells of roasted coffee, insulation, and electrical work.
Kevin and Jim discuss installation procedures
Before the roaster left Edmonton (where it was manufactured) the Roastaire team ran several test batches of beans through the machine and brought us back 10 pounds of coffee from Rwanda – our very first beans from our new roaster. We bagged them up and shared them with our contractors, neighbours, and members of our new staff.
The cafe was full of people all day. Kevin and Walter were there – of course! There were also electricians and plumbers and even one very unexpected and welcome visitor – Michael Anderson. Michael is the leasing agent who introduced us to our current location and assisted us in signing the lease. We will always be grateful to him for helping us find such a great location. Not only is the space itself ideal, but there’s no way we could have ever imagined having a better landlord than Rob Gillespie. His support and encouragement through the build-out has been tremendous.
Sandy, Michael and Kelly infront of the roaster as it enters the cafe
We enjoyed meeting Michael, and look forward to forming a friendship – and even though he has since moved to North Vancouver, he has promised to come back after we open to join us for a coffee.
Michael congratulates Kelly on the progress to date with the cafe
Dear Reader, you must now be wondering how could things possibly get more exciting—hold onto your hat, and pull your eyes away from the roaster for just a minute, because guess what’s going on behind you! Yes – the antique lantern from Egypt is being installed by the electricians!
We didn’t bring the glass globes to the cafe yet, as they are very fragile, but once the are in, and the light bulbs are installed – it is going to be so beautiful above the pot belly stove and against the purple ceiling.
Egyptian Lantern
We still have one more landmark to add to our calendar for this day. In the middle of deliveries and visits and lighting, we had to drive out to Richmond to pick up our very first order of green coffee beans! It’s no good having a roaster if you’ve got nothing to roast in it. It’s likely a little unusual for cafe owners to drive up to the loading dock with their SUV to pick up two bags of beans—and even more unusual to ask to take pictures of the warehouse and site manager – but it was an exciting moment and needed to be recorded! We came home with a 125+ pound bag of Costa Rican Tarrazu and a similar sized bag of Peru Organic from West Coast Coffee Traders.
We came back at the end of the day to find Jim still working on the roaster, Walter gluing veneer panels to the cabinet boxes and Bill finalizing the plumbing. After a long hot day in a store with no airconditioning, we thought they might be a bit dry, and so we brought refreshments, and spent a bit of time hanging out with the guys before heading back home to meet up with our new chef to discuss menu items. Planning a menu is like shopping for groceries – NEVER do it when you’re starving—it’s dangerous!
Jim insulating the roaster
When you see today’s pictures, you won’t believe that it’s just been three days since we last posted. So much has changed. Kevin and Walter have been pulling more long hours and have continued to create beauty!
Since our last post, the painters have completed all the painting, the cabinet doors have all been installed, and today the countertops came in and the pot belly stove was set in place.
Would you like to have a look?
Here’s how it looked on August 20th, with completed paint, but no counters:
August 20
We thought this was super exciting:
We thought this was super exciting on August 20
Until we saw this:
Beautiful cabinet doors, shiny floor, and amazing red counter tops!
The pot belly stove is also set up on its own little stage in the corner. Imagine sitting near it on a cold and rainy winters day! It’s so cheerful and fun! It’s called a Gnome. Hopefully one of our blog readers can come up with a fun name for it!
Of course, no post could be complete without showing off the amazing cabinet doors:
The new sign post for 12th Ave Plaza
The street sign for our mall went up this weekend. It’s so exciting to see our name up in print! It must really be happening!
It does feel more real every day. As we interview and hire staff, and watch the infrastructure of the store come together—the dream of Wood N Frog is starting to feel very real indeed!
As mentioned, we spent an hour just sitting in the space yesterday, absorbing the ambiance and testing the feng shiu. It definitely felt good! As we sat in the quiet room, we tried to project the new sounds we would here in just a few weeks; music, conversation, coffee grinding, beans in the roaster, baristas calling out orders. Fun!
Here are a few more images of the progress inside the store:
For the first time in weeks, there were no painters or dry-wallers or carpenters or electricians or concrete guys or anyone at the Wood N Frog this weekend. So, we decided to take advantage of the lull and bring over a table and a couple of chairs and just BE in the space.
We stopped on our way at Lucky Miky’s Coffee Bar on English Bluff road to have a quick lunch, then took our coffees to go.
At Wood N Frog we set up a table and chairs in front of the pot bellied stove (which isn’t there yet!) and enjoyed the quiet ambiance of our space. It was actually surreal to be there when it was so quiet, normally it’s a cacophony of sounds, but today is was silent.
The space felt good, warm, spacious and welcoming. Even with the ladders and tools and plastic drop cloths, we just knew that this is going to be the space we envisioned so long ago!
Kelly having his first cup of coffee in Wood N Frog
Sandy with her first cup of coffee at Wood N Frog
More Wow Factor
Atlas was appointed the guardian of the pillars and held the weight of the earth on his shoulders
As Atlas holds up the world on his shoulders, so Kevin hold Wood N Frog on his …
At the end of a busy day of coffee research and interviewing that took us all over town, we drove from Granville Island directly out to the roastery to see what progress the guys were making. As we arrived, Kevin, Jason and Walter were just wrapping up their day. They were standing outside the door was we walked up, and Kevin said, “Get ready for some WOW factor!”.
Lots of exciting changes ….
They installed the iron gate into the roastery. The gate weighs about 200 pounds, and swings so smooth on the wooden column! The ancient gate on it’s heavy hinges looks amazing.
Egyptian ancient iron gate installed in the roastery
The “packing crate” boxes are mounted on the wall. They will house display products, cups and our microwave oven.
Crates mounted on the back wall
Next to go up are the doors on the upper cabinets. Kevin held one up for us to see how it would look. He is so excited about how great they look that he asked Walter to hold it so he could see. Easier said than done, since Kevin is the tallest of the team, so Kelly stepped in the lend a hand!
Walter and Kelly hold up one cabinet door!
Next week the cabinet installation will be completed, and then the painters come back to do the final coats of colour.
Kevin’s good side
Kevin’s back-side!
Another exciting visit to the roastery-cafe today. The guys are still hard at work installing the cabinetry. Today the beautiful doors were going up in the roastery.
This is Chris, he is attaching all the cabinet doors that Jason, Kevin and Walter created.
The steel I-beam is getting a special cladding of Douglas-fir reclaimed floor planking:
Jason fixes the fir planking to the I-beam
The whole front patio once again became a workshop.
Jason
Walter catching up on his ironing!
Hiding at the bottom of this picture is Kevin, who is in charge of our site, and Kelly. Kevin is showing Kelly where the knock-box will be installed, and some other unique features in the counter top.
(l to r) Chris, Jason, Kevin and Kelly
Finally, a little bit of eye-candy—our beautiful pillar. It was covered up for the painting, but the guys have exposed part of it now, and it looks beautiful against the dark purple ceiling.
We were cheered and touched yesterday when we received a welcoming email from a neighbouring business.
Thank you Lindsay from Nurse Next Door (who is in fact our nurse next door!) for your kind words and enthusiasm. We look forward to meeting you and the rest of the neighbourhood over a cup of coffee!
It won’t be long now, our team is hard at work installing all the cabinetry. It’s looking prettier every day.
Wood N Frog Coffee Company is owned by Kelly McCloskey and Sandy McKellar. With a passion for excellence and fun, they intend to combine a sprinkle of exotic and dash of organic to provide the ultimate coffee experience for their customers and staff.
